nd perhaps Tudu or Turu are common to the two tribes. The Mahlis are
also closely connected with the Mundas. Seven septs of the main body
of the Mahlis, Dumriar the wild fig, Gundli a kind of grain, Kerketa
a bird, Mahukal a bird (long-tail), Tirki, Tunduar and Turu are also
Munda septs; and the three septs given of the Mahli-Munda subcaste,
Bhuktuar, Lang Chenre, and Sanga are all found among the Mundas;
while four septs, Hansda a wild goose, Induar a kind of eel, as well
as Kerketa and Tirki, already mentioned, are common to the Mahlis
and Turis who are also recognised by Sir H. Risley as an offshoot of
the Munda tribe with the same occupation as the Mahlis, of making
baskets. [141] The Santals and Mundas were no doubt originally one
tribe, and it seems that the Mahlis are derived from both of them,
and have become a separate caste owing to their having settled in
villages more or less of the open country, and worked as labourers,
palanquin-bearers and bamboo-workers much in the same manner as the
Turis. Probably they work for hire for Hindus, and hence their status
may have fallen lower than that of the parent tribe, who remained
in their own villages in the jungles. Colonel Dalton notes [142]
that the gipsy Berias use Manjhi and Mahali as titles, and it is
possible that some of the Mahlis may have joined the Beria community.

2. Social customs

Only a very few points from Sir H. Risley's account of the caste need
be recorded here, and for further details the reader may be referred
to his article in the _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_. A bride-price
of Rs. 5 is customary, but it varies according to the means of the
parties. On the wedding day, before the usual procession starts to
escort the bridegroom to the bride's house, he is formally married to
a mango tree, while the bride goes through the same ceremony with a
mahua. At the entrance to the bride's house the bridegroom, riding on
the shoulders of some male relation and bearing on his head a vessel
of water, is received by the bride's brother, equipped in similar
fashion, and the two cavaliers sprinkle one another with water. At
the wedding the bridegroom touches the bride's forehead five times
with vermilion and presents her with an iron armlet. The remarriage
of widows and divorce are permitted. When a man divorces his wife he
gives her a rupee and takes away the iron armlet which was given her
at her wedding. The Mahlis will admit members of any higher ca